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13 August 2024
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
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Birthday Greetings this week to the US Naval Academy, which turns 179 this Thursday. With that in mind, during the recent NMHS annual meeting in Peekskill, New York, Tuesday Tidings compiler Dr. Dave Winkler sought berthing at IHG Army Hotels at West Point. They were happy to accommodate! | |
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With the torch of the Paris Olympics extinguished, it’s worth noting that the Navy was present at the first gathering of the modern era back in 1896. Below, we offer Brent Hunt’s post from the NHHC website. Navy athletes have competed in many subsequent games. In Battleship Commander, Paul Stillwell covers Willis Lee’s participation on the US rifle team during the 1920 games in Belgium. The future vice admiral came home with seven medals earned in team events. An overall list of USNA Olympians and Para-Olympians is provided here: USNA Olympians and Paralympians - Naval Academy Athletics (navysports.com)
For our Naval History Book Review this week we feature a pair of reviews about two replica sailing vessels courtesy Peter H. Hames. With his 80th birthday in his wake, Peter recently earned an MS in Maritime and Naval Studies from SUNY Maritime. Well Done! Of note this week we also offer a shout out to retired Lt. Cdr. Sean Walsh, who performs the initial sanity check on book review submissions.
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson as a benefit for members of the National Maritime Historical Society and friends of naval history.
As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
14 August 2024 - Naval Order History Happenings
Killing Shore: The True Story of Hitler’s U-Boats Off the New Jersey Coast
With K. A. Nelson
8–9 PM (EDT) (virtual)
18 August 2024 - Mare Island Speaker Series
Telesforo Trinidad and Filipinos in the US Navy
With Cecilia I. Gaerlan
3 PM (PDT) (Live)
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FROM NHHC HISTORY HAPPENINGS
USS San Francisco at 1896 Olympics in Athens
In April 1896, 241 athletes from 14 countries competed in 43 different events at the inaugural modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Although it did not have an official team, the United States sent 14 athletes to compete in three different disciplines. The delegation was largely composed of student-athletes from athletic clubs in New England—most prominently the Boston Athletic Association. Although the delegation was small, the US won the most gold medals at the games—11. Greece had the most medals overall with 47. The US had 20 overall.
While the games were about to commence, USS San Francisco (Cruiser No. 5) was taking a break from patrolling the eastern Mediterranean and was anchored at the Piraeus port of Athens to allow Sailors to attend the games. Assigned to the US Navy’s European Squadron in 1895, it served as the squadron’s flagship. Throughout the games, US Navy sailors cheered for the American athletes from the stands at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. Their presence was noted at the time by the French founder of the games, Pierre de Courbetin.
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USS San Francisco (Cruiser No. 5), circa 1890–1901 | |
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During the games, the American delegation dominated in track and field and the American sailors made themselves heard throughout the events. John B. Connelly, who took home a gold medal in the triple jump, known then as the “hop, skip, jump,” recalled the sailors standing at attention at the first raising of the American flag at the games in honor of his victory. “Most of the crew of the USS San Francisco were massed in the stadium bowl. Like one man they arose and stood at attention. The 80,000 spectators in the seats were rising.… The thought next came to me that our National Hymn was for my winning my event.… I went floating, not walking, floating across the stadium arena on waves that sounded like a million voices and two million hands cheering and applauding.”
The sailors also cheered loudly for Robert Garrett, who took home gold in the discus throw and shotput. In celebration of the stellar performances of the American athletes, Rear Adm. Thomas O. Selfridge, commander of the European Squadron at the time, hosted them on board San Francisco. Selfridge later described the second day of the games in his memoirs, writing that the “Princeton athletes” performed well, “so much so that some officers from the San Francisco gave them a ‘roaring blowout’ at Piraeus to celebrate the American victory.” For more, read the article by Communication and Outreach Division’s Kati Engel in The Sextant, NHHC’s blog.
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Project Mayflower: Building and Sailing a 17th-Century Replica,
By Richard A. Stone. Essex, CT: Lyona Press, (2024).
Reviewed by Peter H. Hames
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...On September 16, 1957, Charlton and the Mayflower Foundation Incorporated transferred their interest in the ship to the Plimoth (sic) Plantation for $1. Unfortunately, Warwick Charlton was never properly recognized for his achievements because of his history of challenging long-held British mores.
With ownership in the hands of Plimoth Plantation, membership increased by 50 percent and by 1960 the vessel earned more than $140,000 for the museum. In 1970, 350 years after the pilgrims arrived, Massachusetts was planning a celebration of the 1620 landing. On Thanksgiving Day, two-dozen Native American protesters boarded the ship and threw a mannequin portraying the captain overboard where he floated like a buoy. Their leaders hoped to establish a National Day of Mourning, which gradually gained acceptance and is celebrated today.
During a routine biannual checkup in 2013, inspectors found that the Mayflower II had wood rot. It took a $20 million capital campaign to fund both the $11.2 million reconstruction and future upkeep. The ship was ultimately taken to Mystic Seaport’s shipyard where artisans equivalent to those who had built her in England worked. The restoration was completed in 2019 and the Mystic shipwrights were hailed as the finest in the world.
I found this story of a grand adventure to be an engrossing book which was extremely well researched and documented.
Read full review>>
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All Hands On Deck – A Modern-Day High Seas Adventure to the Far Side of the World. By Will Sofrin, New York, NY: Abrams Press, (2023).
Reviewed by Peter H. Hames
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...Two days out from Puerto Rico on their voyage to Panama, they were enjoying a run with all sails set in winds from twenty-five to thirty knots and rolling seas from ten to twelve feet when the main t’gallant mast snapped at the crosstrees, the point where it was connected to the topmast. The mast, sail, and yards fell forward of the main topsail. The fore t’gallant yard had snapped in half and was flailing along with the remains of the fore t’gallant square sail. It took all hands on deck and some skillful seamanship to stabilize, secure and salvage the damage.
After repairs in Cristobal, they transited the Panama Canal and anchored off Isla Taboga on the Pacific side. They sailed for Acapulco after some much needed shore leave, then Cabo San Lucas and finally San Diego.
I liked the fact that throughout the book, Sofrin describes the many eccentric crewmembers and their interactions. There were a few romances as eight of the twenty-nine crewmembers on the ship were women. Sofrin’s romance with Marion leads the reader to wonder whether they married after the voyage. He provides the answer in Chapter 14, Seventeen Years Later.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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The Society for Military History
Distinguished Book Awards for 2025
Background: The Society for Military History is soliciting nominations for its annual Distinguished Book Awards for 2025. Established in 1933, the Society is devoted to stimulating and advancing the study of military history. Its membership (today more than 2,600) includes many of the most prominent scholars, soldiers, and citizens interested in military history. The Society encourages research and publication across the whole range of military history (ancient, medieval, and modern, including related popular studies). The Society publishes The Journal of Military History, the leading international scholarly journal of military history.
The Distinguished Book Awards: For the 2025 awards, books published (copyright date) in 2023 and 2024 are eligible. Works previously nominated for the Society’s book awards may be resubmitted provided they were published in 2023. Nominated books should be assigned to one of the following prize categories:
Distinguished Book (two awards)
- Edited and reference works contain collections of information, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, handbooks, and diagnostic manuals.
- Biography and memoirs—works that examine the life of a single individual or the lives of multiple individuals, or first-person accounts of lived experiences, in the context of war and/or the military
- First book—works that represent a single author’s first monograph)
The committee will make its selections for awards by January 30, 2025. The Society will give the awards at its annual meeting in Mobile, Alabama on 27–30 March 2025. The author of each prize-winning book will receive recognition at the Society’s annual awards presentation, an award plaque, and a $1,000 prize.
The committee must receive books for consideration for the 2025 awards by 7 October 2024.
Publishers must follow this process for each volume they intend to submit:
Please send a copy of each book for consideration with a letter specifying consideration for the SMH Book Awards to each committee member at the addresses listed below. Books must be submitted in physical copy, and electronic versions will not be considered. The committee recognizes the expense to authors and publishers associated with submitting five copies of each nominated book and therefore encourages serious submissions only. Please note that books will not be returned and that only award winners will be notified of selection.
At the discretion of the committee, submissions which are received after 7 October 2024 may be deferred for consideration in the 2026 awards.
Sincerely,
Debra J. Sheffer, PhD
Chair SMH Book Awards Committee
Email: debra.sheffer@park.edu
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SMH 2025 Book Awards
Committee Member Addresses
Marion Dorsey, PhD
Department of History
University of New Hampshire
14 Fogg Drive
Durham, NH 03824
Ian Beckett, PhD
School of History
University of Kent, Canterbury
Tides, Trewelloe Road, Praa Sands, Penzance
Cornwall, TR20 9SU, UK
Tarak Barkawi, PhD
Department of Political Science
Johns Hopkins University
1102 Bryn Mawr Road
Baltimore, MD 21210
Matthew Neufeld, PhD
Department of History
University of Saskatchewan
Room 619, Arts Tower
9 Campus Drive
Saskatoon SK S7N 5A5
Canada
Debra Sheffer, PhD
Park University
9002 N. Camden Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64154
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The Society for Military History announces a call for papers for its 90th Annual Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, 27–30 March 2025, at the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and the
Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel.
The Program Committee’s objective is to create a slate of panels that represent the breadth of expertise and interests as well as the overall diversity of the Society’s wide-ranging membership. Individual paper and panel proposals on all facets of military history broadly defined will be considered for inclusion. Members in the academic community, the armed forces and governmental agencies, museums and archives, and independent scholars, as well as international members, are encouraged to participate.
Priority will be given to individual paper and panel submissions that highlight the presentation of original research, new interpretations, topics of immediate interest to our membership, and cutting-edge trends and subject matter. Submission of roundtables is encouraged, but preference will be given to panels that present new, original research.
All submissions will be judged on their merit using the above criteria.
Submission Instructions:
Individual paper proposals must include a 250-word abstract of the paper, and a one-page vita with contact information and email address. If selected, individual papers will be assigned by the program committee to an appropriate panel with a chair/commentator.
Panel proposals must include a panel title and 250-word abstract summarizing the theme of the panel; paper titles and a 250-word abstract for each paper proposed; and a one-page curriculum vitae for each panelist (including the chair and commentator) that includes institutional affiliation, email address, and other contact information.
Roundtable proposals must include a roundtable title, the full name and institutional affiliation of each participant, a 250-word abstract summarizing the roundtable’s themes and significance, and a one-page curriculum vitae for each participant.
Members who wish to volunteer to serve as chairs and commentators should send a one-page curriculum vitae.
Send all materials to the Program Committee Chair before 18 October 2024 at smhconferences@gmail.com.
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For The Trafalgar Chronicle
Publication Date: FALL 2025
Theme: Naval Leadership in the Georgian Era
For the 2025 edition of The Trafalgar Chronicle, the editors seek carefully researched, scholarly articles on “Naval Leadership in the Georgian Era.” We invite essays that provide examples of exemplary and questionable leadership in the predominant navies of the Georgian maritime era (1714–1837). We are interested to know about unique and far-reaching ways in which naval officers and administrators made crucial decisions and took significant actions affecting their futures, men, fleets, enemies, combat tactics and strategies, ships, policies and regulations, and naval doctrine itself. Additional topics: We also seek general-interest articles with unique perspectives on the maritime and naval history of the Georgian era. We invite biographical portraits, articles about battles at sea, maritime economics, exploration of foreign shores, foreign relations, politics, etc. We also welcome well-documented reports on preservation efforts regarding the artifacts, graves, memorials, and monuments of the Nelson era. Proposal Submission Guidelines: Please submit a proposal/abstract of no more than 500 words and a paragraph about your background (a biographical sketch). Proposals are due by 1 September 2024. Applicants will be notified of acceptance status by 1 October 2024. Submit all proposals and inquiries to tc.editor@1805Club.org.
Detailed author guidelines are available upon request. Article Guidelines: Articles should be 3,000 to 5,000 words long in MSWORD (unprotected) following the New Oxford Style Manual. Please include three to six high-resolution illustrations, each in a separate file (jpeg, pdf, or tiff). Articles are due 1 February 2025, at which point they will be edited and, in some cases, submitted to peer review. Articles will be returned to authors for revisions by 1 April 2025.
Revisions are due by 1 May 2025. Publication will be Fall/Autumn 2025. While we do not pay our contributors, each author will receive a copy of The Trafalgar Chronicle upon publication. Non-members of the 1805 Club will receive a free one-year membership. All authors will also receive a PDF of their published article for their portfolio. Authors retain copyright of their articles. Our Contributors: We welcome articles from 1805 Club members and anyone with an interest in the history of the Georgian Navy and other navies of the period. Our articles have come from writers of varied backgrounds: historians, journalists, university students, military personnel, preservationists, and novelists. Contact tc.editor@1805Club.org for additional information. The Trafalgar Chronicle is the scholarly flagship publication of the 1805 Club, a charity registered in England and Wales (number1202272) with an international membership of scholars and enthusiasts of the Georgian maritime era. The 1805 Club takes its name from the iconic Battle of Trafalgar that gave Nelson his place in history and confirmed the role of the Royal Navy in asserting Britain’s sea power. Seaforth Publishing is our publisher.
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UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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16–19 September 2024: Historic Naval Ship Association (HNSA) Symposium, USS Midway, San Diego
19 September 2024: Navy Memorial Lone Sailor Dinner, Washington, DC
28 September 2024: Coast Guard Ball, National Harbor, MD
16 October 2024: USS Constitution Museum Salute to Service Gala, Boston, MD
19 October 2024: US Navy Birthday Ball, Arlington VA
24 October 2024: National Maritime Historical Society Annual Awards Dinner, New York, NY
1 November 2024: Marine Birthday Ball, Albany, GA
2 November 2024: Marine Birthday Ball; Orlando, Fl.
2 November 2024: Marine Birthday Ball, San Francisco, CA
9 November 2024: Steamship Historical Society of America Annual Meeting, Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA
27–30 March 2025: Society for Military History (SMH) Annual Meeting, Mobile, AL
9–11 April 2025: Council of American Maritime Museums Annual Meeting, Pensacola, FL
24–25 May 2025: Canadian Nautical Research Society Annual Conference Port Hope,
Ontario
18–19 September 2025: McMullen Naval History Symposium US Naval Academy
24–28 September 2025: Historic Naval Ship Association (HNSA) Symposium/12th Maritime Heritage Conference, Buffalo, NY
| PREBLE HALL NAVAL HISTORY PODCAST | |
A naval history podcast from Preble Hall – the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Preble Hall will interview historians, practitioners, military personnel, and other experts on a variety of naval history topics from ancient history to more current events.
Click here for the latest episode: 233: David Petraeus on CONFLICT>>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| DRACHINIFEL YOUTUBE CHANNEL | |
Welcome to Navy History Matters, Naval History and Heritage Command’s biweekly compilation of articles, commentaries, and blogs related to history and heritage. Every other week, they gather the top-interest items from a variety of media and social media sources that link to related content at NHHC’s website, your authoritative source for Navy history.
Click here for most recent article>>
| INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NAVAL HISTORY | |
The International Journal of Naval History (IJNH) provides a preeminent forum for works of naval history, researched and written to demonstrable academic standards, with the goal of stimulating and promoting research into naval history and fostering communication among naval historians at an international level. IJNH welcomes any scholarly historical analysis, focused on any period or geographic region, that explores naval power in its national or cultural context. The journal is independent of any institution and operates under the direction of an international editorial board that represents various genres of naval history.
Click here to read the February 2023 edition and archived issues on the IJNH website >>
| SUPPORTING US NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE | |
With the 250th anniversary of the US Navy on the horizon, NMHS seeks your support as we plan to honor those who have provided for our maritime security.
Click here to donate today >>
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